Saturday, May 25, 2013

Hello Guys, it's time to take an hypothetical question in Javarevisited. Which programming book, would you love to buy, if you are given 100$ to spend? I know, when it comes to buying, people want to worth of there money, and that's why I am posting this question to you guys. Suppose you are looking some books in a bookstore and suddenly salesman comes and say, at this particular minute, we are giving you 100$ FREE to buy any programming book. Now you just have 10 minute to complete your purchase and take away those awesome Java books absolutely for FREE, what are the books you are going to buy?
Remember you can only buy books, whose total price must not exceed 100$, you can buy one book or combination of multiple books. For sake of price you can consider prices given at amazon for Java books paperback edition, remember you need to consider price of paperback edition and not eBook. Also you are free to buy any programming or software engineering book, not just limited to Java or related technology.

Talking about myself, I would love to spend my 100$ for buying following books, Though I wanted to buy more, but I ran out of time while choosing last book, so that I can include the first two.

1)
Clean Code By Robert C. Martin $37.585) Java Performance by Binu John $42.013) Just Spring Integration $17.99 Total $97.58

You can post your choice of book as comment, and I will choose best combination of books out of them, which fits on 100$ and post it here.

P.S. If you really want to play this like game, only take 10 minutes to finalize your books and try to use every cents.

Update

Thanks for your comments guys. From all the comments, we can see a
pattern while buying a programming book for reading, most of the suggestions
are for books which are timeless, classic and can be read even down the years.
Obviously, in this category, Algorithm and data structures tops, followed by
books on Object oriented programming, best practices, and software engineering.
Following is the list of some of the classic programming books, suggested by
our readers in comments section. You can use this list to buy your next
programming books, when you have $100 to spare

1. Algorithm Unlocked by Thomas Corman, suggested by Atif is good compilation of complex
algorithm in a easy to read format. It's written by Thomas corman, which has
already authored or co-authored lot of books on data structure and algorithm
space. On top of that, it's real cheap, just $22.50

2. Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in Java, suggested by Suresh, is bit
expensive costing around $123, but worth of money, if you would like to learn
data structure and algorithms in Java programming language.

3.
Algorithm Design Manual by Steven Skiena is suggested by Gaurav Dubey, which cost around
$82, but again given importance of subject in programming, I think it's worth
every penny.

4.
Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software is suggested by one
of Anonymous reader. This books is already 18 years old, first released in mid
1990s, but still relevant and will remain effective, given popularity of object
oriented language in enterprise world. It cost around $47.99.

5.
Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code By Martin Fowler is another timeless
classic suggested by @Pratap, This book is also in my wish list and next in my
reading queue. Cost is around $44.70

I found this books, which deserves a place in Java programmers bookshelf.
I am big fan of paperback edition of books, because that's give me a real
feeling of reading books, but given iPad and Amazon kindle advantage of
carrying large number of eBooks in your bag, I have started building my eBook
shelf as well. By the way, It's hard to get time to read programming books, but
if you have desire to learn and continuously improve yourself, you will
definitely find at least half an hour daily or couple of hours in week to read
programming books.

16 comments
:

"Algorithms Unlocked" which is the new book by Thomas Cormen, which gives an excellent high-level overview of Algorithms - $22.50"Pragmatic Programmer" which really emphasizes software development as a craft, not just something that pays the bills - $34.72"Clean Code" which is a book that covers a lot of topics related to software engineering - $37.58Total - $94.80

I selected these books because for the most part they have a timeless aspect to them. That's not something you can say about many programming books (they get outdated fast). That's why I normally read books through Safari Books and not buy them.

I would buy :Code Complete 2 : $27.89Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code By Martin Fowler : $44.70The Clean Coder: A Code of Conduct for Professional Programmers By Robert C. Martin : $28.65

I was looking for which programming book to read, when I stumble upon this article. I am still in college, but looking to learn programming in general. Some one please advise a programming book for college kids?

My favorite book is Code Complete and Code Complete 2, you can read that book as many times as you want but they are still classic. Invest your money on timeless books of software development and Engineering.